This blog is dedicated to treating everyone - clients, prospects, friends, and family - as valuable partners. We should show them our gratitude through all our actions, including our marketing.

May 4, 2014

No, Part 2

“No” is
the most depressing word that you will ever hear, right? As marketing people,
we hate to hear that word. It means that we have failed in our quest. It
doesn’t matter why they tell us this, we have failed. Maybe we have just spent time
marketing our business’s product or service; maybe we have just wanted to start
a relationship with a new acquaintance. We are a failure, useless to ourselves
and to our business.

Before we
slink off into the corner, hide under a blanket, or slit our wrists, let’s take
a deep breath and think what this word means. Is it the end of the world, both
for us personally and in business? Does it mean that we are total failures in
our search to represent our business or to make new friends and build relationships?
Of course not, it just means that whatever we were after at that moment will
not be ours.

How many
times did Thomas Edison fail before he discovered how to make the electric
light bulb? Did he stop? How many times have many thousands of successful people
been fired from jobs for which they were not suited, only to find success, and
joy, in their later lives in pursuits that brought them to our attention as
mentors and trainers?

Every time
that anyone tells us “No”, they have brought us closer to the person who will
say “Yes”. As a marketing person who only wants to market to someone, we must
expect to receive rejection, even when all we want to do is meet and get to
know someone. We cannot let this get us down; we must not allow this temporary
setback delay our success any longer than the moment at hand.

When I
spent my first career in business developing computer systems, I heard all the
excuses. ”That won’t work here.” “We have never done that in that way.” “We
aren’t that type of organization.” “We do things differently here.” Well, if we
don’t try new things, we may never get new results.

A friend
of mine always says “If you always do what you have always done, why are you
surprised if you always get what you have always gotten before?” If we try something
new, and it doesn’t work, undo it and try something else. If we can try
something for free, and it works, we have found something great without
spending anything.

As marketing
people, we must get acquainted with hearing “No”. We cannot get everyone to
agree to hire us, purchase whatever we have to offer, or even meet with us to
get acquainted. It just will not happen. We may even get more rejections than
acceptances, especially if we are starting a new endeavor or offering a new
product or service or trying to make a career change. We must persevere.

Negative feedback must not have a devastating effect on us;
we must learn from it. If it means that our approach needs changing, we must
adapt. If our choice of target market needs adjusting, we need to do so. We
cannot let rejection be our downfall; we must believe in ourselves and our
ability to hear, learn, adjust, and succeed.

Please leave me your
comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com,
or call me at 360-314-8691. Need to reach out to someone to help
them deal with rejection? Why are we waiting to act? That is where
relationships and partnerships are most successful. Be of help to someone today
or let someone help all of us be better. Don’t let “No” win.